Ferroelectric domain walls constitute a completely new class of sheet-like functional material. Moreover, since domain walls are generally writable, erasable and mobile, they could be useful in functionally agile devices: for example, creating and moving conducting walls could make or break electrical connections in new forms of reconfigurable nanocircuitry. However, significant challenges exist: site-specific injection and annihilation of planar walls, which show robust conductivity, has not been easy to achieve. Here, we report the observation, mechanical writing and controlled movement of charged conducting domain walls in the improper-ferroelectric Cu3B7O13Cl. Walls are straight, tens of microns long and exist as a consequence of elastic compatibility conditions between specific domain pairs. We show that site-specific injection of conducting walls of up to hundreds of microns in length can be achieved through locally applied point-stress and, once created, that they can be moved and repositioned using applied electric fields.

Transvenous cardiac leads are a key element of implanted pacing and defibrillation systems, providing the electrical connection between a programmable generator and the heart. Along their pathway, these thin flexible structures are subjected to cyclic in-vivo motion and deformation resulting from patient cardiac contraction, respiration, and arm motion. Medical imaging techniques such as biplane fluoroscopy have shown the in-vivo deformation to be primarily unidirectional cyclic bending.1,2

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